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Weights and Measurements

Dimensions (Approx.) : 3 3/8 x 3 1/4 (83 x 80.5mm)

Weight (Approx.) : 12.7 oz (360g)

Features

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Circular Aperture

When changing your aperture to defocus the background, the light sources appear blurred. This ‘bokeh’ effect of the blurred background can be enhanced with circular aperture blades used in this lens. Conventional aperture blades have flat sides creating unappealing polygonal shaped defocussed points of light. α lenses overcome this problem through a unique design that keeps the aperture almost perfectly circular from its wide-open setting to when it is closed by 2 stops. Smoother, more natural defocusing can be obtained as a result.

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Aspherical lens elements

Aspherical lens design dramatically reduces spherical aberration while also reducing lens size and weight. Spherical aberration is a slight misalignment of the light rays projected on the image plane. This is caused by differences in refraction at different points on conventional spherical lenses which degrade image quality in large-aperture lenses. Specially shaped “aspherical” elements near the diaphragm restore alignment of light rays at the image plane, maintaining high sharpness and contrast even at maximum aperture and can also be used at other points in the optical path to reduce distortion. Well-designed aspherical elements can reduce the total number of elements required in the lens, thus reducing overall size and weight.
Advanced Aspherical (AA) elements are an evolved variant, featuring an extremely high thickness ratio between the center and periphery. AA elements are exceedingly difficult to produce, relying on the most advanced molding technology to consistently and precisely achieve the required shape and surface accuracy, resulting in significantly improved image accuracy and quality.

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ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass

As focal lengths get longer, lenses built with conventional optical glass have difficulties with chromatic aberration, and as a result images suffer from lower contrast, lower color quality, and lower resolution. ED glass dramatically reduces chromatic aberration at telephoto ranges, and provides superior contrast across the entire image, even at large aperture settings. Super ED glass provides enhanced compensation for chromatic aberration.

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Distance encoder

The distance encoder plays an integral part in ADI flash metering, which delivers high precision flash metering that is unaffected by the reflectance of subjects or backgrounds. The distance encoder is a lens component that directly detects the position of the focusing mechanism, and sends a signal to the CPU in order to measure distance to the subject. During flash photography, this data is very useful in calculating how much flash output is appropriate to the scene.

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Internal focusing

Only the middle groups of the optical system move to achieve focus, so the overall length of the lens does not change. Other important benefits include fast autofocusing and a short minimum focusing distance. Also, the filter thread at the front of the lens does not rotate, which is convenient if you’re using a polarizing filter.

Rated 4.8 out of 5 by 4
reviewers.

Rated 5 out of 5 by thejumbo Great Lens for Many Uses
I use this lens a lot, mostly for real estate/home interior shots. I purchased it specifically to get some great shots of a home theater that we submitted for an award, and have used it in nearly every home installation that we have done since.
It has great color, and you never run out space to fit an entire room into a shot.
I have dabbled a bit with portraits with this lens as well, and landscapes are great, but you have to be careful of the distortion that can occur with the wide angle.
March 22, 2012

Rated 5 out of 5 by NxNW SAL-1118 11-18mm f4.5-5.6 Zoom Lens
Using this lens with the alpha55 I was able to capture high quality images under both interior and exterior lighting conditions, Unlike the earlier reviewer, I did not experience any edge-related chromatic abberations. Most recommended.
June 19, 2011

Rated 5 out of 5 by chiem wide-angle lens
Couldn't be happier! I was looking at wide angle lenses and got stuck between 2 sony lenses (one of which was a carl zeiss. Im too lazy to look them up :P). So I went to my dealer who only had this lens in the wide- angle section, and i'm glad i chose it. It had a discount so i can't argue over the price. Quality is pretty good, with almost no noticable barrel distortion from what i've seen, and I also haven't seen any chromatic abberation or what so ever yet. I highly recommend this lens to anyone who needs some extra stuff from up close or just for daily use.
September 13, 2013

Rated 4 out of 5 by geminis A GOOD VALUE
IT HAS A LITTLE ABERRATION ON THE CORNERS, ITS LIGHT WHITH GOOD COLOR IN GENERAL SITUATIONS.
MAY BE IN THE FUTURE SONY MADE AN OTHER ZEISS LENS.
November 18, 2008